


kindness (i never learned)

by the_gayest_witch (perfection_located)



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, F/F, Internalized Homophobia, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 06:21:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13944993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfection_located/pseuds/the_gayest_witch
Summary: It is halfway through her fourth year at Madame Moonstaff’s Academy for Exceptional Witchery, attatched by now to Pippa’s hip, that Hecate realizes that she likes girls too much.***a character study. ends cackle. migrated from Tumblr, with edits and additions.





	kindness (i never learned)

**Author's Note:**

> from my tumblr @the-gayest-witch-at-cackle . edited and added to.

Consider, briefly, Hecate Hardbroom, the girl in the back of the potions classroom who never raises her hand. Shy and gangly, sharp and cold. She is the girl who knows all the answers but never gives them, because she has long since learned that drawing attention to herself is a Bad Idea. Her father once told her that witches were meant to be seen, not heard, and she had taken it to heart.

But then a girl with a pink ponytail and the brightest smile in the room is assigned as her partner in potions, and Hecate doesn’t understand. This girl’s name is Pippa, and she is kind beyond measure. Hecate does not know what to do with kindness. It is a gift she never learned to accept. Her hands cannot open to take it - they are clenched at her sides, ready to cast.

It is halfway through her fourth year at Madame Moonstaff’s Academy for Exceptional Witchery, attatched by now to Pippa’s hip, that Hecate realizes that she likes girls too much. More specifically, she likes Pippa Pentangle too much. So Hecate skips the broomstick display, and requests permission to work alone in potions. She ignores the way Pippa's smile dims, clenches her hands tighter to her body. She is no good for Pippa, she thinks, and it will take her years to even begin to doubt this conviction. 

Hecate Hardbroom is a diligent student at university, and she graduates top of her class, but she yearns for more. She yearns to teach, to keep learning, to shape young witches. She finds that she can never stay at one school for long. She is too strict, say some schools, and not strict enough, say those with old crones for headmistresses and no willingness to love their students, however bracingly.

Then there is Cackle’s, and Hecate knows she has found her home the moment she walks out of the interview. Ada Cackle is too soft, she thinks, but Hecate is allowed to discipline as she sees fit, to push her students to become the best they can be. Ada does not tell her she is too strict; she asks for more leniency than Hecate can give, and they find a middle ground somewhere between expulsion and forgiveness for the students who blow up potions classrooms and turn one another into frogs. 

Ada Cackle gives Hecate kindness, but she does not force it upon her. She leaves it at Hecate’s door with no expectations. Eventually, Hecate's hands begin to unclench. Ada brings her tea and her genuine smiles to Hecate every Saturday evening, brings her warmth and her lemon drops to each evening they spend working in Ada’s study. Ada gently asks when Hecate has last eaten, brings buscuits to tea, listens when Hecate is willing to speak. Hecate still does not know what to do with this kindness, but she believes she might be learning. 

Hecate will never be the loud one, or the one who raises her hand. She knows this. But now instead of gangly she is imposing, and instead of shy she is reserved. She is still sharp, still cold, but Ada softens her edges, warms her heart, pushes her. She loves Ada, she thinks, and that is enough.

**Author's Note:**

> hope u liked it! hit kudos if u did and let me know what u thiught if you're so inclined. drop prompts in my askbox @the-gayest-witch-at-cackle on tumblr. love u all <3 !!


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